Soweto, South Africa
June 16, 1976
Another day in South Africa's poverty stricken black townships was usually the same as most. Children went to school, those with jobs went to them, women went to work cleaning their houses. But doay was nothing normal. Not a bit.
At Orlando West Junior School, unbeknownst to most of the teachers, many students and virtually every parent, a protest was growing. sporadic marches and strikes had been going on at Orlando West for a year and a half, usually attacking the demand that black students be taught in Afrikaans, which was seen universally as the "language of the oppressor."
Starting at roughly 6:30 in the morning, thousands of students headed out of their houses, but headed mainly to the Orlando Stadium, which was soon packed. The protest, which was expected to be non-violent, grew to five figures of people, a walking mass which soon began its way out of the area.
Near Orlando High School, the police faced off with them. Armed and nervous, the protesters went on their way, trying to avoid the police. But the police soon blocked their path, right in front of the high school.
The police got nervous as the crowd rolled up to the police patrol. The first few student who started throwing rocks at the police got a very vocal shouting from protest leaders. This massive crowd rolled right up to the police brigade. The police got more nervous still, but the man in charge, a Colonel Kleingold, kept his cool and his men kept theirs.
By eight in the protesters and police were staring and screaming at each other, as they dispersed into groups moving around. By noon, this protest had grown to include virtually all Soweto students, and many who were not in school. This vast crowd protested all over Soweto for a full day, and returned in smaller numbers the next day.
But the shocker was that violence was virtually non-existent. On the second day, a young man who had been injured when he fell off his bicycle was being attended to by a white doctor, Melville Edelstein, while a vast crowd watched. One man volunteered his old truck to carry the young man to a hospital.
The media, which had expected violence witnessed thousands of clearly angry black South Africans not being violent and actually assisting a white doctor stunned many.
But on July 18, things finally got ugly.
Soweto, South Africa
July 18, 1976
A riot team, led by Captain Renaldo van Santel, was ordered to go into Soweto to stop the protests, peaceful as they were. The hope of the authorities was that the students would go back to school peacefully. But that didn't happen, and by now a large portion of the media, who had come to see Henry Kissinger visit South Africa (he was schedule to in August 1976 in OTL, I just moved it up a bit) were now watching Soweto.
The media had been pleasantly surprised by the Soweto protesters. A few were angry enough to talk about violence, but most didn't. The leaders of the group were candid, saying that apartheid was an outlet to oppress black people, but that killing whites was not the solution. Most media got virtually every view they wanted of the squalid slum that was Soweto, and that the blacks were indeed human. Even the hard-right Die Burger newspaper had to admit that the "student uprisers" were being peaceful.
Captain van Santel's team arrived at Orlando High School, and proceeded to arrest Tsietsi Mashininini, one of the group leaders. But the crowd got in the way of the police, saying that Mashininini had done nothing wrong.
The tense situation stayed as it was. The media however was soon called, and by 11 am hundreds of reporters had come to Soweto. The 18-year-old student organizer and his thousands of colleagues had gained a lot of respect among both South African and foreign media. After three hours of arguing, Captain van Santel strode into the crowd, and grabbed Mashininini, attempting to haul him out. The organizer shook off the policeman's grip and backed off.
In full view of hundreds, and to the shock of the assembled media, van Santel pulled out his pistol and shot the student leader in the forehead, at a range of about six feet, killing him instantly. The crowd got a lot angrier and vocal, and all the assembled media expected a shootout to start.
They never got it. The crowd, realizing their leader was dead, did absolutely nothing.
The intelligent ones knew that the media had seen it all. And they mattered more than one dumbass cop.......
June 16, 1976
Another day in South Africa's poverty stricken black townships was usually the same as most. Children went to school, those with jobs went to them, women went to work cleaning their houses. But doay was nothing normal. Not a bit.
At Orlando West Junior School, unbeknownst to most of the teachers, many students and virtually every parent, a protest was growing. sporadic marches and strikes had been going on at Orlando West for a year and a half, usually attacking the demand that black students be taught in Afrikaans, which was seen universally as the "language of the oppressor."
Starting at roughly 6:30 in the morning, thousands of students headed out of their houses, but headed mainly to the Orlando Stadium, which was soon packed. The protest, which was expected to be non-violent, grew to five figures of people, a walking mass which soon began its way out of the area.
Near Orlando High School, the police faced off with them. Armed and nervous, the protesters went on their way, trying to avoid the police. But the police soon blocked their path, right in front of the high school.
The police got nervous as the crowd rolled up to the police patrol. The first few student who started throwing rocks at the police got a very vocal shouting from protest leaders. This massive crowd rolled right up to the police brigade. The police got more nervous still, but the man in charge, a Colonel Kleingold, kept his cool and his men kept theirs.
By eight in the protesters and police were staring and screaming at each other, as they dispersed into groups moving around. By noon, this protest had grown to include virtually all Soweto students, and many who were not in school. This vast crowd protested all over Soweto for a full day, and returned in smaller numbers the next day.
But the shocker was that violence was virtually non-existent. On the second day, a young man who had been injured when he fell off his bicycle was being attended to by a white doctor, Melville Edelstein, while a vast crowd watched. One man volunteered his old truck to carry the young man to a hospital.
The media, which had expected violence witnessed thousands of clearly angry black South Africans not being violent and actually assisting a white doctor stunned many.
But on July 18, things finally got ugly.
Soweto, South Africa
July 18, 1976
A riot team, led by Captain Renaldo van Santel, was ordered to go into Soweto to stop the protests, peaceful as they were. The hope of the authorities was that the students would go back to school peacefully. But that didn't happen, and by now a large portion of the media, who had come to see Henry Kissinger visit South Africa (he was schedule to in August 1976 in OTL, I just moved it up a bit) were now watching Soweto.
The media had been pleasantly surprised by the Soweto protesters. A few were angry enough to talk about violence, but most didn't. The leaders of the group were candid, saying that apartheid was an outlet to oppress black people, but that killing whites was not the solution. Most media got virtually every view they wanted of the squalid slum that was Soweto, and that the blacks were indeed human. Even the hard-right Die Burger newspaper had to admit that the "student uprisers" were being peaceful.
Captain van Santel's team arrived at Orlando High School, and proceeded to arrest Tsietsi Mashininini, one of the group leaders. But the crowd got in the way of the police, saying that Mashininini had done nothing wrong.
The tense situation stayed as it was. The media however was soon called, and by 11 am hundreds of reporters had come to Soweto. The 18-year-old student organizer and his thousands of colleagues had gained a lot of respect among both South African and foreign media. After three hours of arguing, Captain van Santel strode into the crowd, and grabbed Mashininini, attempting to haul him out. The organizer shook off the policeman's grip and backed off.
In full view of hundreds, and to the shock of the assembled media, van Santel pulled out his pistol and shot the student leader in the forehead, at a range of about six feet, killing him instantly. The crowd got a lot angrier and vocal, and all the assembled media expected a shootout to start.
They never got it. The crowd, realizing their leader was dead, did absolutely nothing.
The intelligent ones knew that the media had seen it all. And they mattered more than one dumbass cop.......